There were very many Political changes after the Cold War. When Mikhail Gorbachev became leader he set out to reconstruct the economy. In order to do this Gorbachev believed he needed to set in place some political reforms. He set in place the policy of glasnost. This allowed citizens to openly talk about the Soviet Union's strengths and weaknesses.
Gorbachev also created a new state presidency. Under the old system, the first secretary of Communist Party (Gorbachev's position) had been the most important in the Soviet Union. In 1990, Gorbachev became the Soviet Union's first president. His willingness to rethink foreign policies has led to many changes in the Soviet Union.
Another political change occurred when Gorbachev decided not to send troops into satellite countries. Many countries started to revolt against the Soviet Union, in order to become their own country. Workers in Poland demanded change. Mass demonstrations occurred in Czechoslovakia. In Poland and Czechoslovakia democracy had formed, ending the Soviets, communist reign.
A map of the Soviet Union in 1980
Another country that was part of the Soviet Union, was Yugoslavia. This country also went through a mass amount of change; it separated into six different nations. Before this there was a mass amount of unrest in the nation. Ethnic groups were fighting and killing each other and stealing land. After much of the fighting, however, NATO stepped in and helped Bosnian and Croatian forces fight off Serbs who were following a policy of ethnic cleansing. They formed a peaceful treaty that split Bosnia into a Serb republic. The fighting didn't stop for long when a province within Yugoslavia began the violence again. The United States and NATO worked to come up with a settlement to end the fighting. In 2004, Yugoslavia ceased to exist. Many provinces called for their independence. Today there are six independent nations.